Improvement in apparatus for draining sugar



J; ASPINALL.

Sugar Filter.

I Patented July 10, 1855.

AM. PHOTD-LITHELCO NJMDSBORNES PROCESS.)

V UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrCn.

JOHN ASPINALL, OF LONDON. ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR DRAINING SUGAR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 3,203, dated July 10, 1855.

To all whom it may concern.-

London, England, engineer, have invented certain machineryto be employed in the manufacture of sugar; and I do hereby declare the following to be a true and particular description of the nature of my invention.

My invention consists in certain machinery for effecting the separation of fluid from granulated sugar by exhaustion.

Figure 1 of the annexed drawings is a plan, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of a machine for separating fluid from granulated sugar.

In the plan view I have represented two machines side by side, as I find it more convenient so to work them.

A is a vacuum-chamber, divided into two compartments, a and b, for the purposes hereinafter explained.

B B are pulleys, upon which a broad end less band, C, of wire-gauze or of any textile material travels.

Eis a hopper for containing the sugar to be treated.

e is a regulator for regulating the supply from the hopper. In some cases I surround this hopper with a jacket, which is kept heated by steam, for the purpose of maintaining the sugar at such temperature that it will run from the hopper as freely as the regulator will permit; or, instead of a steam-jacket, I place one or more steam-pipes in the hopper for the same purpose, and where the sugar is at all lumpy or liable to clog Iprovide the hopper with an agitator, which may be worked by a pulley and band connected to some prime mover.

F is a box for receiving the granulated sugar from the endless band 0.

G is a brush composed of whalebone or of wire or blades of metal, which is made to rotate against the band C and free it from the sugar.

H is a suction-pipe, connected to an exhausting pump or engine.

I is a slot in the upper part or table of the vacuum-chamber, through which I apply a jet of steam'onto the wire-gauze band, for the purpose of cleansing it and freeing it from any sticky matter that may not have been removed by the revolving brush G.

K is a pipe, through which the fluid sepa rated from the sugar is allowed to run, or is drawn oif from the compartment a of the vacuum-chamber by means of a pump or otherwise. The condensed steam, after acting upon the band through the slot I, enters the compartment b, from which it may be withdrawn through a cock or other suitable means. The partition between the compartments a and 1) serves to prevent their contents mixing together.

L L are gratings or apertures in the table or upper part of the vacuum-chamber, through which the fluid is drawn from the granulated sugar.

The action of the machine is as follows: Motion is connnunicated to the endless band C by revolving the drums or pulleys B B, hereinbefore mentioned. The exhaust pump or engine is set to work to produce a vacuum in A, and sugar is allowed to flow onto the band from the hopper, the depth at which it is deposited being governed by the regulator. As the band with its supply of sugar passes over the gratings L L, the fluid parts will be separated from the granular or solid parts by the pressure of the atmosphere and will be driven into the compartment a of the vacuunrchamber, while the granular parts will be carried onward by the band, from whence they will fall and be brushed off by the revolving brush into the receiving-box. The band will proceed until it reaches the slot I in the top of the vacuumehamber, where, by the action of a jet of steam, it may be cleansed and will be ready for a fresh supply of sugar from and as it passes under the hopper.

When two machines are employed, communication with the suction-pipe may be closed at pleasure by means of suitable valves, the fitting of which will be readily understood by any engineer; but the cheaper means of shutting off the working from either machine will be that which I follow, to place a plate over In witness whereof I, the said JOHN ASPIN- the gratings L L and slot I of that machine ALL, have hereunto set inyhand this 17th day not requiring to be worked. of November, 1854.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is JOHN ASIINALL.

The combination of the porous carrier eonveying a thin layer of the sugar to be drained Witnesses:

with the exhausted chamber, having apertures H. I. GASKILL,

covered by the carrier, whereby the, said sir 1 166 Fleet S12, London. gar is exposed to atmospheric pressure while CHAS. J NO. LEE,

passing said apertures, in the manner and for 28 Royal Exchange.

the purposes set forth herein. 

